Often we pick up the newspaper and read of someone who was swimming with friends and got a little too far out and was caught by the undercurrent, pulled out into the deep, and drown. How tragic and sad this is. We morn this great loss and try to take precautions to assure that it will not happen again. But regardless of the precautions we take, eventually it happens again and again. What a great loss this is.

    What’s sadder than this is to watch some faithful Christian or some good young person being slowly taken away by the undercurrent of the world. The world has many things to offer. Some are good and some are bad, and sometimes it is hard to know which is which. Even though we know the difference, with the undercurrent of the world pulling at us it becomes hard to make the proper choice.

    Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden, knew what God had told them. God had said, "of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Gen. 2:16,17). Now we see the undercurrent in the form of the serpent who ask her if God had said they could not eat of every tree in the garden. The woman said we may eat of every tree except the one in the midst of the garden, but God said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest you die. And the serpent said unto her, "ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Gen. 3:1-5). Needless to say, she listened to the serpent instead of God. How sad! God had done so much for them and the serpent had done nothing at all for them, yet they listened to the serpent and not God.

    We see so many young people who have grown up in a Christian home and taught right from wrong. Their parents have instilled in them the importance of doing right and maintaining their Christian principles. When they get to the age to go away to school or out in the world to see their fortune, there is always that undercurrent tugging at them trying to tell them their Christian principles are old fashioned or out of date with modern times. That they need to catch up with the times, with the reality of the real world. Many, like Adam and Eve, listen to the voice of sinful people who have no Christian principles instead of listening to the ones who really cares for them and their soul.

    Too often there is a husband who’s job takes him away from home and his companion. He has a happy home and a wonderful companion who has always been faithful to him. He knows right from wrong and assures himself that he will always be faithful to his wife, that no one could ever come between them. The days and nights become long, he is so lonesome for his wife he can hardly stand it. But there is this person at work who can sympathize with him. They begin to talk, maybe have a cup of coffee together, and the first thing you know the undercurrent has caught him and for a short time he forgets his faithful companion. Even though he did not intend for it to happen, there is an affair with someone who really means nothing to him. A man who has sacrifices his whole life for a few minutes of pleasure.

    How many times have we known this to happen. The undercurrent is strong and we would be foolish to say that it has no effect on us. Like the innocent victim who drowns because of the undercurrent, we may lose our soul because of it. 1 Cor. 10:12 says, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Let us not deceive ourselves, the devil is everywhere and the undercurrent is strong. Let us always be on guard and aware of our standing.

—Bobby Robinson